Federal Supreme Court of Iraq

Composition

The Federal Supreme Court Law No. 25 of 2021, gives the heads of the following: Supreme Judicial Council, Federal Supreme Court, Public Prosecutor’s Department, and Judicial Oversight Commission together complete autonomy in selecting and designating the court’s members by including a clause that permits bypassing the President of the Republic in case the presidential decree for the selected members is not issued regardless of the reason.

FSC is composed of a president, a deputy, and seven primary members. The law also stipulates that proportional representation of the main components of Iraqi society must be guaranteed in the court's composition. In practice, this has meant that it is composed of five Shi’i Arabs, two Sunni Arabs, and two Kurds.

History

In 2005, the Prime Minister of the Interim Iraqi Government, Ayad Allawi, issued an executive order titled Executive Order (No. 30 of 2005), granting the FSC extensive powers to determine the constitutionality of legislative and regulatory acts, arbitrate disputes between Baghdad and the regions and governorates, validate parliamentary election results, and assert exclusive jurisdiction over prosecutions against top government authorities. The court was also given several guarantees of independence, including at the administrative and financial levels. Due to the fact that the Supreme Court at the time was established by an executive order before the adoption of the new Iraqi constitution and the subsequent formation of the Council of Representatives, a separate law passed by the Council (by supermajority) that formally defines the court’s status was required to be passed, per Article 92 of the Constitution of Iraq. However, in June 2021, after a string of failed attempts to reach a compromise between Iraqi political parties representing different components of the society, the Council of Representatives nevertheless passed a law (Federal Supreme Court Law No. 25 of 2021) that amended the previous executive order that defined the FSC, notably, without the required supermajority.

References

Notes

References

1. "أصدرت رئاسة الجمهورية، اليوم الأثنين، مرسوماً جمهورياً بتعيين القاضي منذر إبراهيم حسين رئيساً للمحكمة الاتحادية العليا.". Iraqi News Agency.
2. [[Constitution of Iraq]], Section 3, Chapter 3, Article 90
3. "المحكمة الاتحادية تصدر قراراً بعدم دستورية بعض من مواد قانون انتخاب برلمان كردستان العراق". Federal Supreme Court.
4. "The Shifting Landscape of Iraq’s Judiciary". London School of Economics Middle East Center.
5. FSC law No. 25 of 2021, Article 5
6. "Federal Supreme Court Law No. 25 of 2021 (Article 6)". Ministry of Justice.
7. ”The Federal Supreme Court shall be made up of a number of judges, experts in Islamic jurisprudence, and legal scholars, whose number, the method of their selection, and the work of the Court shall be determined by a law enacted by a two-thirds majority of the members of the Council of Representatives.” (Constitution of Iraq, Article 92)